The Sun Behind the Clouds: Digital Messianic Imagined Futures in Contemporary Western Shi'ism

Within the last 25 years a new genre of devotion has developed in Twelver Shi'ism: the online English-language majālis. Subsequently new digital savvy Shī‘a authority create and curate English online content. Some communicate almost on the daily with their audience not only about theology and ritual commemorations but about current issues and politics that have direct impact on the Shi'a world. This paper will offer a new perspective on Shī‘a authority in this current moment of intense uncertainty where theological visions are overlapping with current military aggression from both the US and Israel.  This is the very region ḥadīth describe as related to the messianic figure, the Mahdī.  In addition, this paper will explore three modes of messaging from these new authorities to imagine a future beyond despair, rooted in messianic expectation to create a just religious and political community envisioned in Shī‘a eschatology: preparation, keeping faith, and political action.